"The government will be disappointed with the sentencing because they were pushing for the super maximum but behind closed doors the prosecution will be satisfied," says Professor Anthony Michael Sabino of St. John’s University’s Peter J. Tobin College of Business

Sabino adds that the double-digit years in jail sends a clear and necessary mesage to Wall Street that if you "misbehave you will get locked up for a long time." He adds, "Judge Holwell also likely took into consideration that Raj isn't a terrorist, he isn't a drug king-pin and that this is his first offense. It's a fair sentence."

The one-time billionaire made $72 million by trading on inside information on Goldman Sachs, Intel Corp., Google Inc., ATI Technologies and Clearwire, prosecutors say. His lawyers meanwhile say the illicit profits amounted to approximately $7 million.

Rajaratnam's case and sentencing is the most high-profile in a series of insider trading allegations that the government announced back in 2009. The Galleon case resulted in more than two dozen arrests and convictions and included the testimony of Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein. In March, Blankfein took the stand at the insider trading trial saying a former Goldman director,Rajat Gupta, violated the firm’s confidentiality policy when he shared information with Rajaratnam.

The defense team is expected to appeal the conviction on grounds that the wiretap evidence that was presented to jurors was wrongfully obtained by prosecutors and should not have been allowed in court.